• by Aaron Baar , August 15, 2016

Counter-intuitive as it is, wireless purchase satisfaction goes up as the expected amount of time someone plans to keep their phone goes down. 

According to J.D. Power’s most recent Wireless Purchase Experience studies (contract and non-contract), overall satisfaction increases among customers who expect to use their phones less than a year, compared with those who plan to use it longer. Among full-service customers who plan to use a phone for less than a year, overall satisfaction scores average 853 (on a 1,000-point scale), while those who plan to use it between one and two years have average scores of 843, and those who plan to use a phone between two and three years average 809. 

“Part of the reason is demographics and willingness to own the latest smartphone with the latest technology and service capabilities,” Kirk Parsons, senior director and technology, media & telecom practice leader at J.D. Power, tells Marketing Daily. “The more often someone gets a new phone, the happier they are.”

According to the report, customers who expect to use their phones less than a year tend to skew younger. More than half (58%) of customers who expect to own their phones for less than a year are Millennials, compared with 28% of those who plan to own their phones for three years or more. Also, those who expect to use their phones for less than a year consider themselves to be early adopters. 

Those who expect to use a phone for less than a year also pay less, spending an average of $188, compared with $279 for those who expect to use their phones between one and two years and $312 of those who expect to use them between two and three years. 

The study also suggests a shift in ownership preferences, as more than a third of consumers (34%) said they expected to own their devices for less than a year, compared with 13% of those who expect to own their device for three years or more. 

As full-service companies have shifted away from contracts and subsidized phones (opting instead for long-term payment plans and leases), satisfaction with the overall experience is now tied directly to device satisfaction, Parsons says. “There’s some degree of a halo effect, where everything that transpires to get that phone [translates to satisfaction],” he says.